The present invention is directed to a coating made from a polyester resin, and to a liner for drums made from the polyester resin coating.
Steel drums, or pails, such as 55-gallon drums and 5-gallon pails, often require an interior protective lining in order to protect the contents in the drum. Currently-used protective liners contain primarily organic solvent bases. An example of such an organic solvent base liner, which is extensively used, is an epoxy/phenolic coating, such as "Sterilkote" produced by Russell-Stanley Corp., of Woodbridge, N.J. The problem with the conventional, organic solvent base, protective drum-linings is that they are high in volatile organic compound (VOC). Standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), enacted to reduce solvent emissions, require that no more than 4.3 pounds of VOC per gallon of coating may be used for drum and pail interior, protective linings. While some currently-sold organic solvent base drum-linings do meet such strict EPA requirements, a lining that provides even lower VOC's would be highly advantageous. Such a low VOC lining should also be inert to reaction with all of the many corrosive materials packaged in steel drums and pails, in order to prevent contamination, and needs to have a low enough viscosity, in order to allow it to be sprayed, or otherwise, applied to the interior of a drum or pail, by conventional application-techniques, as well as being sufficiently hard and flexible, in order to serve as a drum-lining. The present invention provides a new drum or pail interior lining that has low VOC levels, yet also provides lining-qualities superior in performance to conventionally-used solvent-based linings.